Opinions fall largely along party lines regarding Rep. Peter King's hearings examining the threat of radical Islam in America, with Republicans much more likely to say they are appropriate, according to a new poll.

The USA Today/Gallup survey found that 52 percent of all Americans said they support the New York Republican's exploration of the issue, compared to 69 percent of Republicans. Just 40 percent of Democrats said the hearings are appropriate.

Gallup said independents' views were similar to the national average, with 51 percent supporting King.

King heads the House Homeland Security Committee, which is holding hearings Thursday that critics say scapegoats Muslim Americans for the threat of terror attacks on U.S. soil.

Pollsters went on to ask a series of questions about the whether specific characteristics apply to Muslims living in the U.S. Those results also showed a Republican-Democratic split.

According to Gallup:

Forty-three percent of Republicans say Muslims are "supportive of the United States," while a majority of independents and Democrats agree.

Half of Republicans say Muslims are too extreme in their religious beliefs, while well less than half of independents (37 percent) and Democrats (25 percent) agree.

A minority of all groups, regardless of party affiliation, said Muslims in America are sympathetic to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, although Republicans are somewhat more likely to share that belief.

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Tim

I'm not sure what the hearings will accomplish? Although we do have an obvios problem with home grown terrorist in america and like it or not the vast majority are muslims. I think we need to have folks listning to what is being preached in the mosques to keep tabs on what's going on.

I saw a rerun of the hearings and the majority of Democrats on the commission were African Americans who tried to steer the issue to the Civil RIghts era. The most glaring observation I made was the Democrats attacking the two men whose sons were victiimized by radical Islaminsts One shot and killed a soldier in Arkansas and the other was slain is Somalia by alQaida. One Democrat congresswoman complained that there were no "experts" to testify. I would think that there would be no more qualified witness than the people who were directly involved like the two fathers who testified. After seeing this hearing I came to the conclusion that the Democrats hoped to win a political victory with the hearings but they lost big time. That's the reason the media is not reporting on the investigation. The Democrats' star witness, Sheriff Baca of Los Angeles county was sent home with his tall between his legs .

Peter Kng is merely trying to bring to light what this administration refuses to do; acknowledge the fact that muslims are causing serious problems here in this country AND abroad. All you have to do is look over in Eaurope to see where the govt's in Germany & France have had it with the Muslim radicalism. Most of us realize the problem and know something needs to be done about it. To simply ignore it because you don't want to offend someone will not make it go away; such is the case with the liberal side of the house. These are evil people. What more needs to be said? Bythe way, where was this poll taken, NYC?

This entire dialog is absurd. OF COURSE, the growth of muslim terrorists should be investigated, just as every other growing group of possibly dangerous people have been investigated. Why would these people be treated differently than the militias, the Mafia, the Ku Klux Klan, etc. Napolitano, the head of Homeland Security, and Obamas' head of the DOJ, have both alluded to the alarming growth of this threat to America and our citizens. Stop the nonsense, stop the PC, this is the right thing to do.

I haven't heard anything about any other group causing problems in this country. Have you? Blowing up planes and killing people seems to only be coming from one side of the street. Why is it so difficult to accept the fact that these people intend to do bad things, and they aren't going to go away by simply ignoring the truth. If you have bad neighbors do they just go away if youignore it? Of course not! Someone has to stand up and state the truth. Aw, but the truth will always hurt you. So we try to think "Good" things of people and pretend they'll stop if we ignore it. Like the playground bully....

Because it's obvious that Islamo-facist's are the main causes of terrorism at this point in time. There should be much more focus on these people and their hateful, dangerous religion until the radicals are found and dealt with accordingly.

The hearings are like the McCarthy hearings, but because they target a minority religion, they will end up CREATING terrorism by giving the terrorists a new wedge-issue to draw young Muslims. Those holding the hearings have given terrorists a new argument: Look, they can tell a young Muslim, you thought America was the place of peace and love, look, they are holding hearings to condemn your faith, they hate you and they are against God, join us... These hearings will solve nothing, prevent nothing, and create much more harm than anyone can possibly imagine.

What exactly is a congressional hearing 10 1/2 years from 9/11 going to accomplish on this?.....after 9/11 securing the border should have been job #1...instead we dump billions to create a Dept of Homeland Security ( does anyone believe the people in that dept are anything more than the beneficiaries of nepotism) until the border is secure, "Homeland Security, "War On Terror"( or whatever they call it now) is big, expensive fraud!!!! If Peter King wants to know how/where radical jihadists recruit, the answer is simple, the prisons, and the ghettos....

So Chris, are you saying nothing has happened since 9/11? There have been no further incidents, no killings (see Fort Hood), (see Arkansas), (See Richard Reid), (see the Fort Bragg group), (see the Times Square bomber), (see the Lakawana group). Hmmm, seems like there has been more than one isolated incident to me. And I suppose we shouldn't even consider the group of Somali teens that went to Paskistan for additional terrorist training? Where are you coming from? You are denying yourself the truth. There are serious problems when you have this many incidents. You should not ignore the truth.

Obama and dems are so worried about offending anyone they are going to PC our nation into another attack on our soil. Of course not all muslims are bad and no one has said they are. But there are absolutely radical muslim faction on our home soil who seek to kill us and harm our nation. The Dem Party and WH will be wise to pull their heads out of the sand and join the efforts to prevent such attacks.